Church Bulletin

Letters to the Editor
Orange County Weekly
September 16, 2004

http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/letters/letters/19587/

[See also other articles by Gustavo Arellano.]

I recently read Gustavo Arellano’s story that referenced Father John Kenney ["Hide the Buggering Priests!" July 9], and I double-checked his facts against the Diocese of Orange website. Not because I didn’t believe Gustavo, but his story knocked the wind out of me. Father Kenney heard my first confession, and I remember he was always on the playground with us at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Tustin. Now, add to that child abuser. It breaks my heart.

Name withheld by request
Irvine

Is it sheer laziness that brings you to write about Bishop Tod D. Brown buying a new house [Arellano’s "Movin' on Up," Aug. 13]? Where would you have the bishop live? This story was only written to try and get a rise out of people. So the bishop wants to buy a house. So what? In typical OC Weekly fashion, you spin it so it sounds like he’s buying an estate.

Jesse
via e-mail

Gustavo Arellano responds: When the Orange diocese is pleading poverty in justifying the elimination of church programs, the firing of lay employees and the non-settlement of lawsuits with sex-abuse victims, its purchase of a multimillion-dollar home qualifies as a story in my missal. And I don’t know what neighborhood you live in, Jesse, but a $1.1 million manse in a gated community sure seems like an estate to me. As for where I’d like Bishop Brown to live: How about the Holy Family Cathedral rectory, like his predecessor, Bishop Norman McFarland?